According to JP-A-2004-251165, a fuel feed apparatus includes a canister and a fuel pump, which are accommodated in a fuel tank. The canister absorbs fuel vapor in the fuel tank. The fuel feed apparatus has a flange that covers an opening of the fuel tank, and supports the canister. The canister defines a remaining space in the vicinity of the lateral periphery thereof in the fuel tank. A pump module including the fuel pump is located in the remaining space. In this structure, the pump module and the canister can be accommodated in the fuel tank by utilizing the remaining space, even when the fuel tank is low.
The flange connects with a shaft, which is assembled to the lateral periphery of the pump module, so that the flange is axially slidable relative to the pump module via the shaft.
However, in this structure, when the flange and the canister are moved toward the pump module for an insertion length, the shaft moves toward the bottom of the fuel tank for the same insertion length. For example, the pump module is assembled to the shaft connected to the flange. Subsequently, the fuel feed apparatus is assembled to the fuel tank by moving the flange and the canister toward the pump module. In this condition, the shaft may be urged onto the inner bottom surface of the fuel tank before covering the opening of the fuel tank using the flange. As a result, the fuel tank may not be assembled to the fuel tank.
In the structure disclosed in JP-A-2004-251165, the opening, through which the canister and the pump module are inserted into the fuel tank, is much greater than the cross sectional area of each of the canister and the pump module. The canister and the pump module can be inserted into the fuel tank through the opening in a condition, in which the flange and the canister are set in the vicinity of the pump module, because of the large opening of the fuel tank. In this structure, the insertion length of the canister can be reduced, so that the shaft can be restricted from being urged onto the inner bottom surface of the fuel tank. However, when the opening of the fuel tank is enlarged, mechanical strength of the fuel tank may be impaired.
Furthermore, the fuel feed apparatus may not be installed to the fuel tank in a structure, in which a space outside of the opening of the fuel tank is small, and the fuel feed apparatus occupies a radially large space by setting the canister in the vicinity of the pump module. In this case, the canister needs to be separated from the pump module in order to assemble the pump module and canister into the fuel tank in this order through the small space. However, the insertion length becomes large, and the shaft may be urged onto the inner bottom surface of the fuel tank before the flange covers the opening of the fuel tank.